PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

I have written about this before, but what still stands out for me, as a dedicated golfer, is one of the strangest golf rules on the planet.

I post again because of what I learned from a rules official in Oregon – see below.

The issue revolves around Golf Rule #12, which is in group of rules promulgated jointly by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and the Royal & Ancient (R & I) organization overseas.

So, what is it?

It deals with bunkers, those conditions on a golf course that, usually as a regular golfer, you want to avoid.  They are sand-filled holes in the ground.  Golf pros appear not to mind being in those contraptions.  Neither do top-level amateurs. 

But the rest of us?  Me included.  I try to avoid them.

Incredibly, here is what the Rule #12 allows in bunkers:

• Digging in with your feet to take a stance for a practice swing or the stroke,
• Smoothing the bunker to care for the course,

• Placing your clubs, equipment or other objects in the bunker (whether by throwing or setting them down),
• Measuring, marking, lifting, replacing or taking other actions under a different specific rule,
• Leaning on a club to rest, stay balanced or prevent a fall, or
• Striking the sand in frustration or anger.

Consider just the latter.  “Striking the sand in frustration or anger” is acceptable!

But, if you were in Oregon playing in a junior tournament organized by the Oregon Golf Association and you were seen “striking the sand in frustration or anger,” you would likely receive a “code of conduct” penalty.  And you should.

Why writers of the golf rules chose to include the “frustration and anger” clause in Rule #12 is beyond me.  And, if nothing else, the objectionable parts of the rule should be thrown out or the entire rule re-written.  The words could even incent some golfers to engage in the over-the-top behavior.

For now, my objective is not to think about this strange rule and, further, to avoid getting into the contraptions.

Now for the new, additional perspective. 

It comes from Clifford Shahbaz, an excellent rules official in Oregon who works often for the USGA in national tournaments and, at the moment, is helping me and others participate in a rules seminar offered by the OGA.

When I asked him a question about the rationale for the stuff contained in Rule #12, here is what he wrote to me:

“The actions penalized under Rule #12 are directly related to testing the sand conditions or improving conditions affecting the stroke, which gives a player a potential advantage over opponents or other competitors.  These actions should be penalized.

“The actions allowed without penalty do not test sand conditions, improve conditions affecting the stroke, nor give a player a potential advantage.  Therefore, there is no penalty.

“You are correct that the OGA has a Code of Conduct…however, only Oregon Junior Golf has such a Code of Conduct.  The adult OGA tournaments do not have such a policy.  Nor does the USGA.”

There.  A decent rationale for the policies contained in Rule #12, though I could argue, I guess, for including a code of conduct policy, as well as re-writing portions of Rule #12.

I still wonder why the “frustration and anger” clause is included.